People Get Up and Drive Your Funky Soul

Recorded between April and May 1973 at United Artists Recording Studios in Los Angeles for the soundtrack to Slaughter's Big Rip-Off. James Brown produced and co-arranged the recording with Fred Wesley, supported by musicians including Joe Sample on electric piano, David T. Walker on guitar, Chuck Rainey on bass, Ernie Watts on tenor saxophone and Cat Anderson and Snooky Young on trumpets. First released in July 1973 on Polydor Records, 'People Get Up and Drive Your Funky Soul' was written by James Brown, Fred Wesley and St. Clair Pinckney for the film Slaughter's Big Rip-Off. Its tightly syncopated instrumental arrangement and energetic vocal performance became part of Brown's second soundtrack project of 1973, following Black Caesar. An extended nine-minute version appeared on the 1988 compilation Motherlode, bringing renewed attention to the recording. Its use in the 2007 film Spider-Man 3, accompanying Peter Parker's exaggerated street-dancing sequence, introduced the song to a new generation and subsequently became associated with the popular Bully Maguire internet meme.